close to home

Idioms

Also, where one lives. Affecting one intimately and personally, as in That description of orphans really was too close to home, or The teacher's criticisms of her work got her where she lives. The noun home here means “the heart of something,” a usage dating from the late 1800s; the variant was first recorded in 1860. Both of these colloquialisms are sometimes preceded by hit, that is, something is said to, as in That remark about their marriage hit close to home. Also see too close for comfort (to home).

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Rumours ran wild, but the answer was close to home.

From BBC

“Doesn’t get out much, the Major. Stays close to home. Poor dear. I suggested an outing once. ‘Let’s cross the river,’ I said.

From Literature

For Prince William, this was uncomfortably close to home on many levels.

From BBC

Data provided to The Times by Melissa, a global address provider, shows that most of those displaced in the two fires stayed close to home but they also spread tendrils across the country.

From Los Angeles Times

Armed with swimsuits, caps and goggles, rural French children are gaining access to swimming lessons close to home at an unlikely venue: a retrofitted trailer truck.

From Barron's

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023